Sochi Olympics: Snowboard design not an homage to Pussy Riot

SOCHI, Russia -- The man behind the design of the snowboard of Russian Alexey Sobolev said the inspiration came from old EC horror comic books, not the feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot.

Clarity came from artist Brian Romero, who emerged on Instagram to say just that, citing the greatest hits of the genre, Tales of the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Weird Science, among others.

"But the viewer always brings their own baggage to the table," wrote Romero, who is the art director of the Los Angeles-based Baker Boys Distribution.

Sobolev competed in slopestyle qualifying on Thursday morning at the Olympics and there were questions from Russian media about the snowboard, which featured a design of a knife-wielding woman wearing a ski mask.

It was suggested that it could be an homage to Pussy Riot, the controversial Russian band that became the subject of worldwide attention after denouncing President Vladimir Putin and ended up in prison. Two members of the group were released in December.

The design was done for StepChild Snowboards and quite a bit of past designs on Romero's Instagram site reflects the horror comic book influences.

Nevertheless, Romero was receiving plenty of kudos from the action-sports community for the design and managed to get off a shot on Instagram, writing: "It's too bad I didn't offend the Russian government on purpose though."